9.14.2006

Are We At War Or What?

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- The U.S. military said it is looking into the unauthorized release of a photo purportedly taken by an American drone aircraft showing scores of Taliban militants at a funeral in Afghanistan.

NBC-TV claimed U.S. Army officers wanted to attack the ceremony with missiles carried by the Predator drone, but were prevented under rules of battlefield engagement that bar attacks on cemeteries.

...

The grainy black and white photo shows what NBC says are some 190 Taliban militants standing in several rows near a vehicle in an open area of land. Gunsight-like brackets were positioned over the group in the photo.

NBC quoted one Army officer who was involved with the spy mission as saying "we were so excited" that the group had been spotted and was in the sights of a U.S. drone.

But the network quoted the officer, who was not identified, as saying that frustration soon set in after the officers realized they couldn't bomb the funeral under the military's rules of engagement.

What the fuck?!?! 190 fucking terrorists all lined up in neat rows and we can't fucking bomb them? Are we at war or what? The misguided humanitarianism of these moronic rules of engagement meant that those 190 Al Qaeda terrorists live to fight and murder another day. How many people will be victims of terrorism in the future, who might not have been if we had had the balls to kill those terrorists when we had the chance? Is the next Mohammed Atta in that grainy picture, planning the next 9/11?

If it had been me, I would have killed those terrorists in a heartbeat, rules of engagement be damned, and if someone wanted to court-martial me, I would have had no problems defending my actions. I attended the 7th Army NCO Academy back in the 1980s, in Bad Toelz, Germany, which was General George S. Patton's final duty assignment. Indeed, the prize for the class distinguished honor graduate was a Patton-style swagger stick. I took Patton's principles to heart while I was there. Patton said "War is a killing business. You must spill the enemy's blood or they will spill yours." In this case, we didn't have the spine to kill the enemy, and we will ultimately reap the fruits of that spinelessness.